This a rather unusual one, Ibanez guitars are normally a lot better than this… Having set it up to a normal standard it was choking out badly at the first fret. Turns out the first fret is really low. The only way to dial that problem out would be to put in a rather excessive […]
Tag: Guitar setup
Jazzmaster – Shielding and Pickup swap
Need to improve the sound of your guitar? How about a new set of pickups and shield the pickup cavity to stop any unwanted hum while you’re at it… The inside of the Jazzmaster must be about as complicated as they come. However, a one-for-one pickup swap should be easy. Before the new pickups go […]
Custom built “Les Paul” style guitar
A kit guitar, just needs finishing off and setting up. It does have some problems though, the frets are very uneven and so causing quite a lot of fret-buzz. The first fret in particular is rather low. That’s a big problem as it means having to take every other fret down to that level. So, […]
Hofner bridge and nut upgrade
A rather nice guitar, but with room for improvement. I’ve had this guitar in the workshop before but we couldn’t quite get the intonation properly adjusted as there wasn’t enough space to move the saddles far enough. The nut is also plastic, so while we’re upgrading the bridge, I’ll cut and fit a bone […]
Strat’ – Setup
Here’s a rather nice Stratocaster, just needed a bit of a tweek on the setup. It’s got some nice pickups as well. Although for an American made Strat they got some basics wrong, the neck is on a little wonky. Since the neck will come off to adjust the truss-rod I’ll sort that out when […]
Schecter – Bent bridge
Fret Buss? there can be several reasons for that, this Schecter had a problem that I’d never encountered before… I’ve never encountered a bridge so bent out of shape. The top should be flat, with a curved bottom… I can’t fix that so it had to be replaced, there’s the new one, flat top, curved […]
When is a Fender not a Fender?
When it’s on of these…. Perhaps not the worst guitar I’ve had on the bench but you can tell from all the details it’s not genuine.. At first glance it looks OK. Just take a look at the jack plate, and the lack of quality in the finish. The screws on the scratchplate haven’t been […]
PRS – Fret Dress and Setup
I can’t say I’ve ever really been a fan of PRS Guitars, they’re normally better than this one though. This one has some rather uneven frets so it’s never going to play well as it is. A fret-dress and a setup will sort that lot out though. Using a Fret Rocker over 3 frets there […]
What are the best replacement pickups?
A question I often get asked: What are the best replacement guitar pickups available to upgrade my Guitar? Quite simple: Radioshop Pickups. They make a fantastic range of hand wound pickups and come right at the top of my list of upgrades… I’ve just fitted a pair of P90s to an Epiphone Casino. Rather than […]
Jackson – Service and setup
I seem to be having a short run of this sort of thing, not quite my cup of tea though. This one has a few problems as well, just needs a little TLC and a setup. Some of the hardware has seen better days. A couple of new pickup rings and new screws all round […]